On behalf of our Most Rev. Bishop Earl K. Fernandes, I would like to thank you for supporting the Black and Indian Missions collection. In 2023, the Diocese of Columbus contributed $50,076.46 to this collection.
These donations help bring the light of Christ to sisters and brothers in Christ. The Catholic faith community has been a beacon of hope for the hopeless for generations and solidarity with them is more important than ever, especially with vibrant Catholic faith communities in the poorest regions, serving and caring the marginalized.
Through this giving, the faithful journey hand in hand with the dedicated missionaries ministering to brothers and sisters in our local churches. The collection will be supporting and strengthening evangelization programs. Your generosity will help make evangelization easier and bring saintly lives such as St. Kateri Tekakwitha (First Native American Saint) and St. Martin de Poress (First Black Saint of Americas) to light.
The funds are used for evangelization efforts in poor rural and reservation communities that cannot survive without help. Evangelization mainly focuses on administering the sacraments, giving witness to the people who are served, helping them understand God loves them and recognizing the Church as a mediator. Missionaries evangelize with the sacraments, community participation and a special relationship with the saints by devotional practices. As Pope Francis advocates in one of his encyclicals, “Any missionary impulse, if derived from the Holy Spirit, manifests predilection for the poor and vulnerable” (Evangelii Gaudium 7).
In an interview, Father Maurice Henry Sands, director of the Black and Indian Mission Office, speaks about the needs and urgency of evangelization among the Native American communities.
“A lot of Native American Catholics don’t have access to the sacraments,” he said. “They don’t go to Mass because they don’t have a priest who is specifically assigned to serve in their community.
“I hope that Native American Catholics can be acknowledged and be welcomed to participate more fully in the life of the U.S. Catholic Church. I also hope that the Church can help to bring about restoration and healing through increased efforts to address our spiritual and material needs.
“Many native people live in poverty and don’t have proper housing, electricity, telephones or running water. Unemployment rates are very high. The quality of health care for most Native Americans is very poor. Most Native American children on reservations and in urban centers attend public schools that are inadequately staffed and resourced.”
Mission work is the most precious service of the Church, according to Saint John Paul II. “The Church can never be closed in on herself. She is rooted in specific places in order to go beyond them. The mission of Christ which is entrusted to the Church is still far from completion. An overall view of the human race shows that Christ’s mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service” (Redemptoris Missio).
Mission work includes evangelization and caring for the basic needs of the poor; sharing meals, cleaning clothes and helping a struggling family cover the coast of education. It can be possible with people of goodwill. The support of generous hearts can fulfill dreams of many unfortunate people to pursue a college education and to have a better future. When they receive these grants/funds, they recall the words “My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me” (Psalm 27:10).
